Influence of hesperidin and vitamin C on glycemic parameters, lipid profile, and DNA damage in rats treated with sucrose overload.

Silvia I.R Franke,Fernanda F Zenkner,Patrícia Molz,Daniel Prá,Joel H Ellwanger,Jorge A Horta,Camila Mai

doi:10.1590/0001-3765201820170751

Abstract

We evaluated the influence of hesperidin and vitamin C (VitC) on glycemic parameters, lipid profile, and DNA damage in male Wistar rats treated with sucrose overload. Rats were divided into six experimental groups: I-water control; II-sucrose control; III-hesperidin control; IV-VitC control; V-co-treatment of sucrose plus hesperidin; VI-co-treatment of sucrose plus VitC. We measured the levels of triglycerides, total cholesterol, HDL-c, LDL-c, fasting glucose, and glycated hemoglobin (A1C). DNA damage was evaluated in blood and brain cells using the comet assay and the micronucleus test was used to evaluate chromosomal damages in the rat bone marrow. Co-treatment with VitC, but not with hesperidin, normalized the serum glucose. No effect of co-treatments was observed on A1C. The co-treatment with VitC or hesperidin did not influence the lipid profile (p>0.05). Rats co-treated with hesperidin had a significantly lower DNA damage level in blood (p<0.05) and brain (p<0.05). Rats treated with VitC only, but not those co-treated with VitC plus sucrose, had significantly higher DNA damage in brain (p<0.05). No significant differences were observed in the results of micronucleus test (p>0.05). Hesperidin and VitC showed different effects on sucrose and DNA damage levels. While VitC lowered the serum glucose, hesperidin reduced the DNA damage.

Highlights

Hesperidin is a flavonoid found in large amounts in citric fruits
The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of hesperidin and vitamin C (VitC), in concentrations similar to those found in orange juice, on glycemic parameters, lipid profile, and DNA damage in male Wistar rats treated with sucrose overload
Liquid ingestion did not differ significantly between groups, and nor hesperidin or VitC altered the intake of sucrose

Summary

Introduction

Hesperidin is a flavonoid found in large amounts in citric fruits. It has various biological effects on human body, including antioxidant action and insulin-sensitizing activity (Li and Schluesener 2017). Orange juice is known as a source of VitC (Franke et al 2004) and contributes greatly to the intake of flavonoids in some populations, such as the Brazilian population (Arabbi et al 2004). VitC and orange juice can reduce oxidative stress-associated DNA damage. Depending on dose and molecular environment, hesperidin can show antioxidant (Adefegha et al 2017, Hemanth Kumar et al 2017) or pro-oxidant (Zhang et al 2015a, b) activity

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